Bearing Fruit
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Bearing Fruit Implications of the 2010 Reconciliation between Lutherans and Mennonites/Anabaptists Report of the Lutheran World Federation Task Force to Follow Up the “Mennonite Action” at the LWF Eleventh Assembly in 2010 Bearing Fruit: Implications of the 2010 Reconciliation between Lutherans and Mennonites/Anabaptists Report of the Lutheran World Federation Task Force to Follow Up the “Mennonite Action” at the LWF Eleventh Assembly in 2010 © The Lutheran World Federation, 2016 Editor: Department for Theology and Public Witness Design and Layout: Department for Theology and Public Witness Office for Communication Services Cover photo: LWF/Erick Coll Contents Preface ...................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................7 Lutheran–Mennonite reconciliation: thankfully receiving the Spirit’s gifts .................................................................................................7 I. The Authority of the Lutheran Confessions in Light of the 2010 Stuttgart Action with the Mennonites ........................................................................17 Introduction ................................................................................... 17 Remembering a history of religious violence in the sixteenth century and beyond ...................................................................................19 Lutherans and Mennonites in the sixteenth century ..............................19 Sixteenth-century Anabaptists..............................................................20 Views of heresy and coercion in Lutheran circles ..................................22 From the Reformation to the present ....................................................25 Anabaptists in the Lutheran confessions ...............................................26 Contemporary ways of understanding the language of condemnation ....28 Interpreting the authority of the Lutheran confessions in light of the action with the Mennonites ............................................................ 29 The view of authorities in the Augsburg Confession ...............................30 The Augsburg Confession and the 2010 actions in Stuttgart ..................33 II. Continuing the Conversation on Unresolved Issues: Christians and the Civil Use of Lethal Force .................................................................................. 35 The discussion of Christians and civil authority from Healing Memories ...36 The conversation continued ................................................................. 41 III. Good Practices of Lutheran-Mennonite Cooperation and Reconciliation . 49 Joint study processes .....................................................................49 “Healing Memories, Reconciling in Christ: A Lutheran–Mennonite Study Guide for Congregations” .....................................................................49 Trilateral dialogue between Lutherans, Mennonites and Roman Catholics on Baptism ..........................................................................................50 Joint diaconal projects .................................................................... 51 Mennonite Support to Dadaab Refugee Camp ...................................... 52 Lutherans and Mennonites grow together: a joint garden project ...........53 Joint celebrations and worship services .......................................... 54 3 Bearing Fruit Joint celebrations: tree planting ............................................................54 Reconciliation service in the church St Blasii in Zella-Mehlis in Germany .... 56 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 59 Taking care that our actions may bear fruit ......................................59 On teaching the Lutheran confessions ..................................................59 On exploring unresolved issues ............................................................59 On deepening relationships through common prayer and Bible study, shared humanitarian engagement, and common work for peace ..........60 From 2010 to 2017 and beyond ...........................................................60 Appendix I ............................................................................................... 63 Service of repentance at the LWF Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart, 22 July 2010 ................................................................................. 63 Martyr Ballad and Testimonies, English ................................................63 A. Testimonies: the costs of persecution and its legacies ................ 64 B. Testimonies: seeds of reconciliation and peace ...........................67 Appendix II .............................................................................................. 69 Introduction to the Augsburg Confession ........................................69 Notes on the Augsburg Confession in light of the commitments made by the LWF at its Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart 2010 ....................70 Appendix III...............................................................................................75 Members of the Task Force ...................................................................... 79 4 Preface It is with great pleasure that I present to you the report of the Lutheran World Federation Task Force to Follow Up the “Mennonite Action” at the LWF Eleventh Assembly in 2010 (Task Force), which responds to promises made at the 2010 Eleventh Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). While building on communion-defining ecumenical affirmations, such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, the “Action on the Legacy of Lutheran Persecution of ‘Anabaptists,’” taken at the Eleventh Assembly, was a major step for the LWF. At that moment, this Lutheran world communion did three things: it “asked for forgiveness from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers;” prayed for “healing of memories and reconciliation;” and, last but not least, looked toward the future. As Lutherans, we “committed ourselves” to a series of processes and changes, whose unifying hope is the resolution that “this action of the LWF will bear fruit” in the life and teaching of our churches.1 The Task Force’s report is one part of the response to these commit- ments. The international Task Force, established in 2012, was composed of members from different parts of the LWF communion and a Mennonite representative, Prof. John Roth, Goshen College, USA. Special thanks are due to Dr Kathryn Johnson, a consultant to the Task Force, who was instrumental in finalizing this report. The Task Force met three times: in Tutzing (Germany), Goshen (USA), and Utrecht (the Netherlands) and explored how best to follow up on the commitments taken at the 2010 Assembly. In its report it not only describes but also suggests further steps. The Task Force would like to encourage the LWF member churches to take up this resource in their own settings, acknowledging that paths to a deeper relationship between Lutherans and Mennonites/Anabaptists will need to respond to the diverse contexts in which we live. It is fitting that this report comes to the LWF member churches on the threshold of the commemoration of the 500th Reformation anniversary. As we prepare for the Twelfth Assembly and the 2017 commemorations, Lutherans are strengthened by the memory of the Eleventh Assembly, where the healing power of God’s Spirit to move through moments of repentance brought gratitude and hope. In moving toward reconciliation in one of the rela- 1 “Action on the Legacy of Lutheran Persecution of ‘Anabaptists’,” in Give Us Today Our Daily Bread. Official Report. LWF Eleventh Assembly (Geneva: The Lutheran World Federa- tion, 2010), 47–48. 5 Bearing Fruit tionships wounded 500 years ago, we took new courage to approach the half-millennial anniversary in a way that advances the unity of the church and the healing of the world. OKR Michael Martin 6 Introduction Lutheran–Mennonite reconciliation: thankfully receiving the Spirit’s gifts “Veni, Creator Spiritus! Come, Holy Spirit!”—so the Church intensively prays for God’s guidance during times when it seeks healing and renewal. In Stutt- gart, Germany, on 22 July 2010, as Lutherans and Mennonites engaged in a formal act of reconciliation, this was their prayer. Those present at that moment could not doubt that the Spirit of God was at work in their midst. The occasion was the Eleventh Assembly of the LWF, the highest governing body for that international communion of churches, which embraces over ninety-five percent of the world’s Lutherans. Endorsing a dialogue process that had begun years before, the Assembly voted to ask for forgiveness from members of the Mennonite/Anabaptist tradition for wrongs going back to the beginnings of the Lutheran movement in the sixteenth century. Painful divisions between these two Christian families had persisted since their formative years. Now, as both approached their half-millennial anniversaries, the moment for moving toward reconciliation had finally come. The action in 2010 began already thirty years earlier, when Lutherans were celebrating the Augsburg Confession’s (CA) 450th anniversary. With the memory of persecuting Anabaptists having largely faded from active aware- ness, they invited Mennonites to join the celebration in Augsburg—and were